Financing of SODEC | Women directors take the lead

The Society for the Development of Cultural Enterprises (SODEC) announced Monday morning the funding for the production of 10 feature films to be directed by Mariloup Wolfe, Anik Jean, Chloé Robichaud, Monia Chokri, Pascal Plante, Léa Pool, Geneviève Dulude- From Celles, Eric San, François Péloquin and Chloé Cinq-Mars.

André Duchesne
Press

These 10 projects, including 7 carried out by women, are divided into two categories, namely “2.5 million and more” (7) and those with budgets of less than 2.5 million (3).

With Heart of slush, Mariloup Wolfe (Jouliks) will bring to the big screen the novel by Sarah-Maude Beauchesne who signs the screenplay. This feature film tells the story of two sisters, Billie and Annette who, in the middle of summer, both fall in love with Pierre, a young cyclist prodigy. For Billie, Annette’s youngest, the time has come to take her place.

Co-production between Quebec (majority) and France, Blue flower by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles (A colony), follows the path of Mihai, an art expert sent to Romania to assess the work of Nina, a gifted young painter. Returning for the first time to his homeland, Mihai confronts the ghosts of his past. Geneviève Dulude-De Celles also signs the screenplay.

Joined by Press, the filmmaker explained that the two main characters are the combination of a story she knows personally and a second, real, that caught her attention. “I have a close friend whose father has an immigration story that inspired me for the character of Mihai,” says M^me Dulude-De Celles. He is not an expert in the arts, but through his experiences, I became interested in understanding the traces left by immigration. As for the character of Nina, it is inspired by Aelita Andre, a young Australian painter of Slavic origin. She had her first exhibition at 2 years old, which raised questions of authenticity. ”

Part of the shooting will take place in Romania. On the other hand, the financial package is not yet completely completed. It is therefore too early to establish a production date.

Lea Pool (Augustine’s passion, Bring me), script and direct Silence Hotel, film in which Jean, a man who sets out on a one-way trip to a country ravaged by war, finds a new meaning in his life. This co-production between Quebec (majority) and Switzerland is the adaptation of the novel Gold by Icelandic writer Audur Ava Olaffsdottir.

Maryse Latendresse (screenplay) and multidisciplinary artist Anik Jean (direction) will shoot for their part My mother’s men, a feature film in which the central character of Elsie goes to find her mother’s five ex-husbands, including her father with whom she is in cold blood, in order to honor her memory. After Lost soul, My mother’s men is Anik Jean’s second feature film.

Chloe Robichaud (Sarah prefers running, Country) will put on track Happy Days, his third feature film, in which the character of Emma (Sophie Desmarais), a homosexual conductor, has to get rid of a toxic relationship with her father played by Christian Bégin. March 11, 2021, Press announced this project which will involve the Orchester Métropolitain and its maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Maude Guérin and Nour Belkhiria are also attached to the film, which is scheduled to shoot in the summer of 2022.

With Simple like Sylvain, Monia Chokri is writing and directing her third feature film which follows My brother’s wife and Baby sitter whose release is still awaited. Simple like Sylvain is defined as a film with caustic humor in which the character of Sofia questions her values ​​and aspirations after falling in love with Sylvain, an entrepreneur from a universe very different from his. Co-production with France (minority).

At last, Space Cadet, science fiction animation inspired by the graphic novel by Kid Koala (alias Eric San) will be produced by the latter from a screenplay by Mylène Chollet. Musical fable without words, Space Cadet examines the relationship between Robot, an aging companion, and Celeste, a girl-turned-woman and cosmonaut about to undertake her first interstellar mission.

Projects of 2.5 million and less

Pascal Plante, whose film Nadia, Butterfly had received the label “Cannes 2020” despite the cancellation of the festival, comes back with The red rooms, judicial suspense in which the character of Kelly-Anne goes every morning to the courthouse to attend the trial of a serial killer for whom she develops an obsession. The key to this story lies in a video of the murder of a preteen girl who looks eerily like Kelly-Anne. Pascal Plante also signs the screenplay.

Welcoming this announcement with “great joy”, Pascal Plante writes his reaction: “It will be a drastically feature film. different from my previous ones (Fake tattoos, Nadia, Butterfly), even if I strongly believe that my personality still manages to emerge from this legal suspense that flirts with the horror film! Perhaps it was the pandemic that played in my head… but this time, we dive into the archiglauque universe of live torture videos from the darkweb and the media fascination around serial killers. Some kind of true crime which overturns the codes of the genre a bit! ”

Filming is expected in the summer or fall of 2022 for a release in 2023.

François Péloquin (The sound of trees) directs and co-signs with Sarah Lévesque the feature film Melting ice. A detective drama, the film tells us the story of Louise, specializing in the rehabilitation of prisoners whose journey takes an unexpected turn the day she believes that a newcomer is the murderer of her mother.

Finally, Chloé Cinq-Mars, screenwriter of the film Derivative by David Uloth, receives support from SODEC for Forget Charlotte, film for which she wrote the screenplay and which she will direct. Psychological horror thriller, Forget Charlotte is the story of Penelope, a young mother who, hunted down by the thief of a convenience store that she caught in the middle of a mischief, sinks into a psychosis, to the point where she is becoming a threat to her own child.